Tuesday Teaser 11/26/13: Wolf’s Vengeance
So here is a little snip from Mel and Snake’s story. Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the States. I don’t know if this little snip is worth giving thanks for, but I hope you enjoy!
“I’ve waited all my life to have a mate of my own.” Snake’s voice was low. “Between the ages of ten and twenty I barely ever saw a woman up close, but I always wondered what it would be like to have a mate. Someone who was mine to take care of and love. I dreamed of it. In my dreams my mate loved me and I would do anything for her.” His dark eyes looked directly at her. “I would never do anything to hurt you, Melissa.”
She hated being called her full name. “I believe you,” she told the bedpost.
“No.” His hand lifted and swayed from side to side as if to disperse her words like campfire smoke drifting in his face. “You’re afraid of me. I smell it on you from time to time.”
Mel resisted the urge to hunch her shoulders. She also forced her instant denial back. “Maybe I am. But I know I don’t need to be. You’ve been really decent to me. All your friends have been nice too.”
“Then why? Is it my wolf?”
Her shabby bedroom faded to be replaced by a nearly bare hotel room. She felt Randy Fosse’s hard hands digging cruelly into her shoulders to hold her down on the bed while Jim yanked on her shirt. The bruising pressure on her shoulders suddenly lifted, and a huge gray wolf tore into Jim Fosse, slinging saliva and blood over her…
“Yeah,” Snake said in a near whisper. “There’s that scent. It is my wolf, isn’t it?”
Tuesday Teaser: 11/19/13-Wolf’s Vengeance
So… Mel and Snake were married yesterday, but he spent his wedding night on the floor. Tonight he has other ideas. Mel and Snake are in the kitchen, washing the supper dishes and talking.
“I can take care of myself.” Mel swept her thumb over the butt of her pistol. “Dad taught me to shoot before I was ten, and I’ve been wearing this gun ever since. I’m never unprotected.”
His laugh surprised her. “Glad to hear it.” He glanced over at the pot of wash water on the stove. “Looks like the water’s warm. Let’s get going on these dishes.”
Mel let out a shaky laugh. “Okay. I’ll get started if you’ll bring in the dishes from the dining room.”
After he went out to collect dishes, Mel braced herself with her hands against the sink’s rim for a long breath. Her husband was a stranger. A strange stranger, whose attitudes threw her off stride, but she thought she liked him. He didn’t push for details she’d rather forget. And he wasn’t grabby.
When he came in, holding a pile of dishes that would have taken two of her brothers to carry, she was busy at the sink. He set the dishes on the counter and took the washrag himself. “I’ll wash and you dry. You know where things go better than I do.”
How odd that a werewolf washed dishes with deft hands and hummed while he scrubbed. Again, that domestic image clashed with her memory of his snarls and growls in the hotel room. Which was the real Snake?
“Oh,” he remarked, as if the thought had just come to him, “I won’t be sleeping on the floor tonight. I’ll be joining you on your bed.”
A plate slipped from her hands to shatter on the floor. She blinked down at the scattered shards for a moment before realizing her mouth was gaping wide. She closed her mouth and stared at him. This shouldn’t be a surprise. They were married. Her uncle had performed the ceremony yesterday. Last night she had expected him to claim his marital rights, but he had only lain down on the floor in her bedroom. She swallowed now, her breath oddly cold in her lungs, and bent to pick up the pieces of the plate.
Snake stopped her with a wet hand on her wrist. His eyes were shadowed by thick stubby lashes, and it seemed to Mel they were carefully blank. “Was that such a shock?”
“Well, ye— I mean, no. Well, sort of.” Mel inwardly cursed herself for fumbling her words as well as the plate. She drew in a calming breath and tried to smile at him. “We’re married. You’ve been pretty patient, but I know you want to, uh …” She waved the dishtowel. “You know.”
He took a step closer, so close she could make out each individual eyelash that shaded his eyes. “Do you want to?”
Did she? In her mind’s eye she could see through his clothes to the thickly muscled body beneath. During their trip to the ranch she had seen him switch from man to wolf and from wolf to man often enough to have memorized how he looked naked. What kind of lover would he be? Sweetly fumbling like Danny? Viciously aggressive like Rob? He was strong, stronger than a normal man. He could do serious damage to her with a single blow. Her heart slowed to sluggish thumps, as if it were beating in a vat of icy molasses.
Fingertips rough with calluses grazed her cheek. “Mel?”
Her heart magically leapt free of the molasses to take off at a gallop. Staring at Snake, she jerked her head from side to side. “No, I don’t want to.”
His hand fell away. “Okay, we’ll wait until you’re ready.” He turned back to the unwashed dishes and spoke quietly. “Please don’t be afraid of me.”
Tuesday Teaser 11/12/13-Sky vs Mr. Magic
About a year before Wolf’s Princess starts, Rose rescued a battered tomcat from a bunch of boys who were torturing him. She named him Mr. Magic 8 Ball. The name was shortened to Mr. Magic, or just Magic. The cat is now overweight, scarred, missing most of one ear, and his tail has been broken more than once. He hates every living thing except Rose. He purrs for her. Taye would dearly love to chuck the cat out, but the creature won’t go. Rose loves that cat, and insisted on bringing him to Omaha with her. You can imagine how Sky feels about him, especially since Mr Magic believes Sky is an interloper and won’t let him near Rose’s bed.
Sky glanced around the hallway to be sure no one was watching, then lowered himself into a crouch so he could stare the nasty feline right in his baleful gold eyes. “Look, cat, this is my house. Rose is my mate. You behave yourself, or you’ll be out in the street, waddling after mice for your dinner.”
The cat yawned insultingly, the scent of fish rank on his breath. Realization ground Sky’s teeth together.
“You thieving feline,” he said with disbelief. “You ate my lunch! I’m going to– Dammit!”
He jerked back the hand he’d reached for the cat with.
Light footsteps sounded behind him. He rose swiftly to meet his mate’s angry glare. “Don’t you dare lay a hand on Mr. Magic!” she hissed.
He shoved his bleeding hand toward her. “Me? He’s the one who attacked me!”
“That’s because you scared him.” She bent to scoop the black butterball up and held him to her face, making kissing noises at him. “Poor Mr. Magic. I won’t let the nasty man hurt you. Poor little sweetie. I’m here now. You’re safe.”
Sky could swear the little beast smirked at him.
Tuesday Teaser 11/5/13 Wolf’s Princess
I’m TRYING to focus on Snake and Mel, but Rose and Sky keep blocking me! So I wrote this little scene to try to pacify them enough for me to get back to Wolf’s Vengeance. Let me set the scene. Rose has been in Omaha now for about 10 days, and it’s been three days since Sky moved her into his room. That afternoon they kissed–REALLY kissed– for the first time. All day Rose had thought about that kiss, wondering what it would be like to make love with Sky. This is the night he usually joins the mayor of Omaha and his cronies for their weekly poker game. This usually involves lots of liquor and women. Rose is just getting ready for bed when this scene opens. What do you think?
At the sound of the door opening, Rose snatched her discarded blouse off the bed and held it protectively over her chest. “Sky! What are you doing here? I thought you were going to be out late.”
He stood in the door, crisp white shirt unbuttoned to hang open, suit coat slung carelessly over his shoulder, the glare of electric light gleaming on the hard ripple of his abs. His stare was almost tangible. Rose shivered under the weight of it. “I’m back,” he said. “I couldn’t concentrate on my cards because all I could think about was the kiss we shared this afternoon.”
A flush of pleasure warmed her. Not sexual pleasure –well, maybe a little of it was sexual—but happiness that the kiss had affected him as much as it had her. “Well, step out for a minute so I can put on my nightgown and robe.”
The door closed with a quiet snick. “You won’t need them tonight.” Sky moved to her with the easy saunter of a predator who’d found his prey, the same glide she’d seen so often in his cousins, and then his hands fisted in her hair and his mouth fastened over hers with hot greed.
With her hands exploring the feel of his arms and shoulders, only the press of his chest against hers kept her blouse from falling and leaving her exposed. He was hard muscle covered by smooth satiny skin under the cotton of his shirt, and his mouth pushed all other thoughts out of her head. His hand, large and warm, smoothed down her bare back, and then up to cup her breast.
Her bare breast.
She managed to force an inch of space between them, panting. “Wait! What are you doing?”
“Princess, if you have to ask that, I must be doing something wrong.”
He clamped his hands over her rear end and hauled her so close to him she could feel the ridge his arousal dig into her belly. She couldn’t stop herself from rubbing her core against him, needing to ease the hot ache in her body. She was a virgin, but she knew what her body wanted. She just wasn’t sure she was ready for it.
“Tonight,” he said in a harsh whisper into her neck. “I’ve waited a long time for you, Rose. Tonight, in the bed right behind you, you’re going to accept my mate claim.”
“I am?” Her voice lifted in a cracked squeak that turned to a breathy moan when his mouth closed over her breast. She had never felt anything like it. All her curiosity about sex, her private carnal longings, rushed to the place between her thighs. “Oh, God, Sky, I am.”
Tuesday Teaser 10/29/13-Wolf’s Vengeance
I’m writing Wolf’s Vengeance and thought you’d like a quick snip from that story. This takes place at supper the night after Mel and Snake were married.
Her brother Mord’s face creased with sly humor that Mel immediately recognized, though he tried to disguise it by setting his mouth into an earnest line. He leaned over the supper table, gazing at Snake with faked concern. Snake sat so close beside her on the wooden bench she could smell his subtle scent and feel his thigh pressed to hers.
“Are you sure you want to be my sister’s husband?”
Snake’s profile was calm as he swallowed the last bite of his blueberry pie. One thick brow arched and he cocked his head. “Yeah.”
Mike joined in the sly teasing with a tsking sound. “You positive? You know what her track record with husbands is?”
Mel slammed her fork onto the table. “Cut it out, Mikey.”
Her new husband put a hand on her knee beneath the table and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I don’t know what a track record is.”
It cheered her to see her brothers shut up, but it was only a momentary reprieve. “You know what happened to Rob Fosse?”
Snake cut Mord off. “Sure. He got what he deserved.”
“Melissa Ann is quick to shoot,” Mikey said with a sad shake of his head. “Mind your toes, and other parts.”
Mel gave him a furious snort.
Mord smirked. “And then there was Danny Bell.”
Mel’s hand went weak. Oh, God. Danny. The name cut a burning gash over her heart. She leaped to her feet and grabbed her plate. “Sara, wanna give me a hand with these dishes?”
Snake waved the girl back. “I’ll help with dishes.”
He sent a cold glare at the twins, and maybe he would have said something to them if Marc hadn’t intervened.
“You boys have time to flap your mouths, you have time to clean the outhouse,” he said evenly.
Amid protests at the late hour and other complaints, Mel made her escape to the kitchen. Snake followed her, a muscular wall of silence as he set the kettle to heat for dishwater. When it was done he took her hand and looked into her eyes.
“Who is Danny Bell?” he asked.
Tuesday Truth 10/22/13-Wolf’s Oath is here!
Yes, Wolf’s Oath is out and available at some retailers!
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Smashwords
And will be at Barnes & Noble, the iBookstore, Kobo, Sony, etc in a few weeks. If your reading device requires .epub or .pdf, and you don’t want to wait to read the book, you can buy it at Smashwords in the format of your choice. I am very excited about Connie and Des’ story. Did you wonder why Connie went from declaring she would never marry to showing up at the den with Des for the wedding ceremony? What happened to change her mind? Find out in Wolf’s Oath.
Connie Mondale, co-pilot of a plane that crashed in a future where women are rare, has no intention of being forced into marriage, thank you very much. A former fighter pilot, she’s accustomed to being in charge. But leading two dozen undisciplined women is harder than flying missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. Scarier, too, with woman-hungry men outnumbering them two hundred to one, and demanding marriage. When Des, the grim-faced werewolf who is always there for her, offers to share the load, how can she refuse?
Des Wolfe knows Connie is his mate. When she refused him, he tried to settle for being her friend. But when an opportunity comes to have her for his own, he grabs it with both hands, determined to have her love. If that means taking on a whole house full of women and making them his Pack, he’ll do it. There is no price too high for Des to pay to have Connie for his mate.
Can Connie give her heart to a werewolf, or will Des have to settle for only her body in his bed?
Tuesday Teaser 10/8-Wolf’s Vengeance
Tuesday is already rolling around again? Geez, where’s the time going? I have been very busy the last week and a half, and haven’t done much more writing. But overtime is over, and after this coming weekend I’ll have most of my evenings free. I plan to do an ARC giveaway for Wolf’s Oath during the week of the 14th, but only through my newsletter. If you’d like to get a free advanced readers copy of Connie and Des’ story, feel free to sign up for my newsletter. I’m planning on giving away 20 ARCs.
Meanwhile, here’s another snip from further along in Chapter 1 of Wolf’s Vengeance. Enjoy!
Mel didn’t feel calm. As she leaned against the wall beside her window, her heart was beating in her throat so hard she could count her pulse by it. She stared out the window, forcing herself to focus on the ranch yard and the rolling hills beyond. They were bare except for the dried yellow grass that moved in the hot summer breeze. A shadow bobbed on the crest of the hill to her left. A rider? A movement close by caught her attention and she saw her oldest brother, Marc, run around the house to leap up the front steps. The front door opened and slammed shut, and then the solid thunk of the bar settling into the brackets on the door drew a relieved sigh from her.
“Mel?” he yelled.
“Yeah. Me and Sara are safe upstairs,” she yelled back. “And I just saw a rider coming up the hill to the west. There he is again, and there’s another rider behind him.”
“Sara? You in your room?” Marc called. “Anyone out back?”
“I haven’t seen anyone yet,” the girl shouted.
“Keep your eyes open. Let me know if you see anyone else. These two riding up to the front door might be trying to distract us from anyone else sneaking up the back.”
“You got it.”
Mel waited by the window, searching the empty landscape for more riders. The two rode under the arched entry in the fence. She watched their hands, noting they held them in plain sight, nowhere near the pistols in their belts or the rifles sheathed on their saddles. Smart. On the road they were sitting ducks for a gunman. She lifted her rifle to have it ready in case of trouble.
“See anyone out back, Sara?” she called in a low voice.
“Nope.”
Okay, maybe it was just a neighborly call. But she recognized the riders as they came closer. Sam and Curt Fosse were the two oldest in the family since she had killed their brother Rob last winter. Did they know that their brothers Jim, Randy, and Dave were dead too? She doubted this was a friendly visit.
When the Fosses got to the edge of the yard, Marc yelled, “That’s far enough. What do you want?”
“Just passing by,” Sam shouted back, tipping the brim of his hat back to show a white smile. All the Fosses were handsome devils, Mel reflected, emphasis on ‘devils’. “Heard your sister went off a week ago to Ellsworth to be a prize for a Bride Fight.”
“That’s right.” Marc’s tone was cold and flat, but it didn’t discourage Sam.
“So, who won her?”
“How would I know? Haven’t gotten a letter yet. Hell, the fight might not even have taken place yet.”
Mel smiled. Not exactly a lie. She had gone to the Bride Fight and been won by Jim Fosse, and she hadn’t sent a letter. Not, she reflected, that Marc had a problem with lying. He could say anything with a bland, blank face and no one could tell he was lying. Sam’s face lifted to stare up at her window. Mel stood utterly still, knowing she couldn’t be seen where she was. After a minute he looked back to the front of the house. “You had visitors last night. They had some women with them, I heard.”
“You hear a lot.”
Sam laughed. “Sure. Folks like to talk to me. So who were they?”
“Just travelers, passing through. We sold them some supplies and they left this morning.”
“Were the women young? Pretty?”
Marc declined to answer. Silence stretched. Mel moved slowly and carefully to wipe at the sweat gathering on her upper lip. It wasn’t nerves that made her sweat, she assured herself. The bedroom was sweltering in the humid July afternoon. She kept her gaze sweeping over the distant hills, looking for any threat, but checked Curt and Sam frequently. They sat quiet in their saddles, twenty-five yards from the house. If they thought they could force Marc to speak, they were in for a surprise. Her big brother was a champion at keeping his mouth shut. Finally, Sam gave up and spoke again.
“Mind if we fill out canteens?”
“Yeah, I do. It ain’t but a three hour ride home for you. You won’t die of thirst before then. You oughta get going.”
Mel could imagine Sam’s mouth tightening. “Not exactly neighborly.”
“Yeah,” Marc drawled. “I get that way with folks who threaten to burn me out, kill my brothers, and rape my sister.”
Tuesday Teas –er, I Mean, Give Away!
It’s October 1! That means summer is over and I get to revel in my favorite time of the year: Autumn! Oh, I just love those cool days, when the temps get up to the low 60s and the nights are chilly. No air conditioning necessary, so I can actually HEAR my television. And audiobooks!
Do you listen to Audiobooks? I do. It’s the perfect thing for when you want to relax with your knitting or spinning. Or dishwashing, dusting, etc. 😉 Did you know I have two of my books in audio with the third one coming out around November 1? I am so thrilled to see my books on Audible, iTunes and Amazon. Would you like to try Wolf’s Glory out? Here’s your chance. I’m giving away THREE (3) coupons for a free download of Wolf’s Glory from Audible on Wednesday night. You don’t have to be a member to use your coupon. To win, just leave a comment on this post. I will draw Wednesday, October 2 at 9:00pm central time and email the winners before bed.
You can hear a sample of Wolf’s Glory HERE
Good luck!
Tuesday Teaser 9/24-Wolf’s Vengeance
I’ve been struggling with the opening scene for Mel and Snake’s book. I’ve started it three times, each in a different place. I think I’ve settled on this one. It’s very bare bones right now, and I’ll go in later and add some detail and description, but here it is.
Chapter 1
“Incoming!”
The distant shout jerked Mel’s head up from the big pot of stew she stirred. Sara punched the bread dough down and laid a damp towel over the bowl with a frown. “What was that?” the teenager asked.
“Strangers are coming.” Mel put the lid on the stew pot and grabbed a rifle from the rack by the kitchen door to hand to Sara. “You know how to use this?”
Sara grabbed another towel to wipe her hands clean of bread dough before taking the rifle. “Of course.”
The teenager checked to see if the rifle was loaded. Mel approved the easy familiarity she showed as she handled the rifle. “Come on. We need to close the doors and windows and head upstairs to the safe room.”
Even as she spoke Mel slammed the iron-reinforced shutters closed over the kitchen window. Sara hurried to the back door off the mudroom and closed it. The lock fell into place with a loud metallic click that relieved a tiny bit of Mel’s anxiety. Mel took the other rifle from the rack and ran into the hall that led past the living room to the front door. Before she reached the entryway, two large gray-furred wolves barreled into her, hackles raised, toenails scraping over the worn tile.
Mel, scrambling for balance, tried to determine which of the wolves was her husband. Snake was a bit bulkier than his cousin Stone, his fur slightly darker, but she couldn’t tell who was who until the wolves morphed into naked men. Snake, the man she’d married only twenty-four hours ago, gripped her shoulders.
“Mike and Mord are two miles out,” he said in a rapid voice. “Marc will be here in a minute. He’ll bar the front door. Me and Stone are going to the bunkhouse. You and Sara cover the yard from upstairs.”
Mel touched the butt of her pistol. “Okay. Who’s coming? How many?”
Snake’s face, never as soft and pretty as Stone’s, hardened. “Fosses,” he spat.
Tuesday Truth 9/17/13
No Teaser today as I have done several in the past few weeks and because –gulp!– I’m having a root canal this afternoon. I don’t know if you’ve ever had an abscessed tooth, but let me tell you, I’m pretty sure that everyone in hell is going to have them all the time because anything more agonizing I can’t imagine. I kinda started to feel it on Monday night. Then Tuesday it was a little uncomfortable, but I tried not to think of it. Wednesday I began to hurt more, but it wasn’t until Wednesday night that I was almost serious about finding a pliers and yanking that tooth out.
All night I sat in bed, holding my face and rocking back and forth while sobbing. Tylenol didn’t even touch it. I went to work at 5:30 am (because, hey, I couldn’t sleep anyway, right?) and counted the minutes until 8am when I could call the dentist. At 8:01 I got the answering machine telling me the office would be closed the rest of the week for training.
I may have screamed. Maybe. Other workers twisted around at their desks to stare at me. I listened to the message again and jotted down the emergency number to call. It was the dentist’s personal cell and at first he had no idea who I was or why I was calling. I guess I didn’t enunciate clearly enough through my sobs. Once we cleared up who I was and why I was calling, he asked me some pretty detailed questions (Was it swollen? Which tooth was it? If I pressed gently on the gum did it feel spongy?) He said he would swing by the office and review my chart and xrays and call me back.
Anyway, to make a long story short, he concluded it was probably an abscess and called a prescription for penicillin and Tylenol with codeine in to the pharmacy. The pain was pretty bad the rest of that day, but on Friday morning the penicillin seemed to be kicking in. I still have some pain, but it’s mostly bearable. I have an appointment today at 2:45 which the dentist believes will be a root canal, but I guess I’ll find out for sure then.
The dentist has phoned me two more times just to check on me and see how I’m doing. So far so good. The pain is like a simmering pot instead of one boiling over. A bit uncomfortable, but not horrible. If you have a minute today around 2:45 think good thoughts for me!
